StopWatch
by kate-curlyfries
Summary: the first Ianto story i have written, an alternate ending to COE in my story, Jack didn't run away!
1. Chapter 1

Jack was having trouble sleeping. He hardly ever slept anyway, so that was probably the problem. Though, tonight was not like most nights. It was their first proper night back in the Hub. After it had been blown up, the Hub and most of Cardiff Bay had been ruined. Fortunately, with the help of some of Jack's 'nanogenes', everything had been restored to the way it was. This left the police and other authority quite baffled, though, considering that in the last 5 days aliens had invaded earth and tried to take our children, this was quite a minor issue. Unfortunately, this was the first time back in the Hub without Ianto. Although the world's children were saved, no-one but Gwen had seen the effect on Jack personally. Not only had he lost Ianto, but also his grandson Stephen. Now his daughter was refusing to talk to him, or in fact have anything to do with him what so ever, and he felt so useless. All these thoughts were running round Jack's head, making it impossible for him to sleep.

The Hub was eerily quiet. Any other person wouldn't have agreed with that, in fact they would have been almost deafened by the noise of the machines, the whir of the computers and the distant noises of Janet in her cell. But Jack had been around these noises for so long that they were almost invisible to him. No, the noises he was really missing were the noises that Ianto made. The sound of his footsteps echoing round the hollow cave of the Hub, the murmur of his voice as he muttered quietly to himself, the soft ticking noise of his coffee machine, followed by that mouth watering smell of a 'Ianto Special'. Even the noises that Ianto himself was not even aware of, such as his coughs, sighs and sniffs. They were the noises that Jack missed most.

He sighed, pulled back the blankets and sat on the edge of the bed. There was no point in him trying to sleep seen as how he'd spent the last half hour tossing and turning. He sat quietly for a moment and looked around the room, taking in things that he'd never even noticed before and seeing how much they reminded him of Ianto. It had only been, what, 2 days? It still seemed like somehow he was still alive. Jack knew that after a while, he wouldn't hurt as much as he did now, it would have time to sink in. Although, as it was Ianto, it would take a long time before Jack could ever go a day without having to surround himself with his memories of Ianto.

Jack's trail of thought faltered for a minute, and that's when he became aware of a noise. A sort of scratching noise. It couldn't have been Gwen; she'd gone home hours ago. So what was it? He stood up and left his office, making his way out into the main area of the Hub. He could hear the sound of his bare feet slapping against the cold concrete steps as it echoed off the high walls. It's only when you're alone in a place like this that you really appreciate how big it is, Jack thought. As it was only the two of them in the Hub now, it felt odd. They seemed to rattle around like a marble in a tin can. Jack thought back, this time last year, this place would have been buzzing with activity. Gwen nattering about weddings, Tosh tapping away at her keyboard, Owen playing basketball with the occasional help of Myfanwy, squawking with excitement. But now this place was dead, Jack and Gwen rarely spoke, just got on with their work quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack laughed quietly before carrying on finding the source of the noise. It was definitely coming from somewhere over to his left, in the direction of Gwen and Ianto's desk. Well, Ianto's OLD desk. Heading in that direction, he heard that the ticking was becoming louder, so he knew he was in the right place. He pulled open one of the drawers and found it crammed full of things all neatly stacked in piles,

'Typical Ianto' Jack thought.

He started pulling out the objects, dropping the unbreakable objects onto the floor and placing the breakables on the desk. The breakables and a photo of Tosh and Owen. Jack gazed at it for a moment, getting caught up in the memories it brought. He remembered that day well. They had all gone to the park for a picnic after the Abaddon incident. Owen had got drunk and picked a fight with some fat bald guy. The guy had tried to fight back, and they had all laughed as he ran away screaming like a girl. Of course, Jack had his pictures in the draw in his desk, but he hadn't got them out since Tosh and Owen had died. Jack sighed heavily and carried on pulling the things out of the desk, until at last there was nothing that could be seen. But the ticking was still there. Jack delved right into the bottom of the drawer and rummaged around in the shadows. His hand hit something. Something cold, small and round. Pulling it out and holding it up, his jaw dropped. It was a stopwatch. Ianto's stopwatch.

Jack just stared at it for a moment. He didn't know what to do. The stopwatch had been left in the drawer when Gwen and Jack had moved all the things back in. Everything that Ianto had on him when he died were still in his suit, except the stopwatch, which Jack had taken as a reminder. Everything had been stacked upright in the drawer, so it was not possible for anything to have fell on the stopwatch and turned it on. So why was it ticking? Jack held it up to the light to read the display. It had been ticking for 10 hours and 22 minutes. He racked his brains. What had he been doing when it had started? Looking at his watch, the display told him it was 3:25. That meant that the stopwatch had been ticking since about 5:03. 5:03? That time meant something and Jack was sure of it. He clicked on the computer screen, which came up with a record of the day's rift activity. After searching through it for a moment, he found what he was looking for.

There had been a big spike of rift energy bang on 5:03. Only this one had been different. They hadn't been able to pin-point exactly where the energy was. The spike just sort of happened. He and Gwen had gone out to search for it but comeback empty handed, partly because they didn't know where to look, or what to look for. But why was Ianto's stopwatch counting from that time? Was it connected to the rift? A tingling sensation ran through Jack's body. What if this was somehow Ianto trying to get through? It was unlikely, but if there was even just a glimmer of hope that it could be, it was worth taking the chance. All of this was making Jack's head hurt. He rubbed at his temples with his fingers. By now he was far too awake to sleep. So instead, he sat at the desk in his office and thought. Thought about what all of this could mean, whether it was really Ianto or not. Whatever it was, it would have to wait until the morning when Gwen got in, so that he could have another view on the situation. As he sat still, stopwatch in hand, he found himself slowly drifting off to sleep. Within seconds, he was fast asleep. To tired even to notice the stopwatch begin to emit a golden glow.


	3. Chapter 3

"I've watched you in your sleep, did you know that? So many times, just woken up besides you in the middle of the night, and watched you"

The words ran through his head, drifting over him in some sort of trance, the soft deep voice making him sleep deeper, deeper. The voice began to fade away, but before it had completely gone, he felt a lone hand reaching out to his. Ianto's he guessed, reaching out to find Jack's hand. But he wasn't. He could feel something being taken from it, the warmth of the object disappearing. But being replaced by something else, long and cylindrical. As the voice finally disappeared, the Hub descended back into silence, the only noise being Jacks steady breathing as he stirred in his sleep.

Jack groaned and fidgeted in his chair. The piece of paper fell from his hands and landed on the desk next to the stopwatch. That had been his first proper nights sleep in ages. Before, he had been drinking such good coffee, that he had been awake constantly. But now, the lack of his favourite drink was taking its toll on him. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. Hang on, he was sure he had gone to sleep holding Ianto's stopwatch. As he placed his hands back down on the desk, he saw the stopwatch placed neatly face up in front of him. How had he got there? He had definitely gone to sleep with it in his hands, even if he had dropped it, it wouldn't have landed that neatly on the desk. And anyway, more importantly, there was a rolled up piece of paper lying next to it. Jack was sure there had been nothing else on the desk when he had fell asleep, so where had it come from? He unrolled it and read it out loud to himself:

'Jack,

Tried to speak but you were asleep. I spoke for a while, but it wasn't working. It brought you out of a coma, but can't wake you up from a nights sleep. Same time tomorrow?

I.

PS. I will explain everything then.

Jack held the note to his chest. He'd recognise that hand writing anywhere and the signature at the bottom. It had to be Ianto. But how? Jack realised, when he said "It brought you out of a coma, but it couldn't wake you up from a nights sleep" it wasn't a dream he was having, it must have actually been Ianto. All this was making Jack's head hurt. As he sat at his desk, he heard a familiar voice behind him. Swivelling on his chair, he saw Gwen in the doorway.

"Hey Jack" she said, smiling at him. Jack returned a half hearted grin before handing her the note. She took it from him and started to mumble as she read it. As she reached the end, a confused expression spread across her face.

"What's this?" She asked, holding the note back out. Jack took it and started to explain.

"Last night I was trying to get some sleep. I heard a ticking noise coming from one of the desks so I went out to see what it was, and I found Ianto's stopwatch ticking. Thing is, it had been ticking since 5:03..."

Gwen butt it, "5:03, isn't that when we had the strange rift spike?"

Jack nodded.

" So why was his stopwatch counting from that?" Gwen asked, sitting on the


	4. Chapter 4

edge of the desk.

"I don't quite know" replied Jack before clicking his tongue, "boardroom. 10 minutes"

Gwen nodded and left the room, leaving Jack on his own again, He still had that buzzing feeling inside his stomach. If this was Ianto, then things could go back to normal again. Decent cups of coffee on the menu and he wouldn't be on his own at night again. Jack found himself grinning as he bent over to pick his clothes up off the floor. Finally, he thought, some proper work at last.

10 minutes later, and Gwen walked into the boardroom and sat in her usual seat opposite Jack. They felt like king and queen sat so far apart at the long table, but they didn't have the heart to move into their dead colleagues chairs. It always felt like they were intruding on something. They both felt it, but neither liked to admit it. Jack pushed a cup of instant coffee down the table towards Gwen. She picked it up and took a sip. Jack did likewise and recoiled, partly because the scolding liquid burnt his mouth, but also because they'd got down to the last beans in the jar, so they had just poured the whole jar in which made it really strong. Hopefully, soon they'd have some proper coffee again, but until then; Jack wished that Ianto had shared the recipe with at least one person before he'd…

"So, what have we got?" Gwen's voice brought Jack back to the present.

"Well, I've been thinking"

"Careful" Gwen cut in with a cheeky smile, "Don't strain yourself"

Jack raised an eyebrow," May I continue?"

Gwen gestured for him to carry on.

"Right, well, I scanned the stopwatch and it had no rift energy what so ever", Jack noticed how shocked Gwen looked at this statement and a smile spread across his face as he continued," This suggests to me that the energy is being directed into the stopwatch at one specific time, say like, when this happened at about 3:25 last night"

"Is that what the note meant when it said 'same time tomorrow'? Is that what Ianto meant? Gwen sounded excited.

"Whoa, we're jumping to conclusions here. This might not even be Ianto, but what ever it is, we find out tonight"

Gwen nodded, "I know, but if it _is_ Ianto, how did he get here? And why only at a specific time?"

"It sounds a bit like teleportation to me. A while ago, I accidentally discovered that by using the PDA, I could hook it up to another object that I knew was in the place I wanted to go, if you get me" Jack added, seeing the confused expression on Gwen's face, " Ianto was the only person who I told about what I had found. He must have known the stopwatch was here in the Hub, and done what I had showed him to do to teleport through. Unfortunately, we could only get the connection for about 8 minutes. That would have left Ianto enough time to leave the note last night, before he had to go back to wherever he was"

"This is assuming that this is Ianto though, what if its something else?" Gwen asked.

" We find out what it is, then we take action" Jack rounded off the meeting and


	5. Chapter 5

stood up to leave. Gwen followed

"Hang on; what are we supposed to do for the rest of the day?"

Jack shrugged and went back in to his office. Gwen threw her arms in the air in protest and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, she quietly retreated back to her desk and sat down. They both spent the rest of the day working in silence.

10:00pm. And Gwen and Jack were sat in the pub. Gwen was drinking a coke, and Jack, his usual glass of water. They had both decided it was best to remain sober if they were going to do this properly. Gwen leant over and picked the stopwatch up from Jack's half of the table. Studying it, she asked, "What time did you say this happened last night?"

Jack swallowed the last of his drink and placed the glass back on the table.

"3:25 ish"

Looking at her watch, Gwen sighed, "We have another 5 hours"

"come on, lets get back to the Hub," said Jack, placing the glasses back on the bar," we'll order a pizza on the way back" As they left the pub, they linked arms and walked out into the cool night air, the rain splashing on their faces as they made their way up the high street.

The two of them were sat in the boardroom eating a pizza. Meat feast. Gwen's favourite. Although it didn't taste as nice today as it did when Ianto ordered it. She threw her half eaten slice back into the box, crossed her arms and stared at the torchwood logo swirling round the screen. It was sort of hypnotic, and it was making her feel tired trying to focus on the letter T that was flickering and rippling around the screen. She thought about Rhys, who was probably out at the pub on a night like tonight. In fact, she was surprised she hadn't seen him a while ago when they had been in the pub as well. She always felt a bit guilty when she was staying at the Hub all night, leaving him at home on his own. Hopefully, he would have thought to make himself tea tonight, unlike the last time she'd been out all night when he had waited until 5 in the morning for her to get back and make his tea. She laughed at the memories. Seeing the smirk on Gwen's face, Jack finished off the last mouthful of his pizza, wiped his hands on a napkin and then placed them on the desk.

"If it is Ianto, what will you do?" Gwen asked.

"we'll decide that when we know for definite," Jack replied," but, as your asking, I wouldn't mind some proper coffee"

"You saying mine isn't good enough?" asked Gwen in mock horror. Jack smiled and lent back in his chair. He looked at his watch. 11:05

"Well, what do you want to do now?"

"Hmmmm…. ", Jack paused and reached into the desk drawer, pulling out a pack of cards.

2 hours later, and Jack threw his cards on the table and held his hands in the air.

"You'd have thought that after hundred of years of playing cars, I would be good, but I'm still as bad as a beginner"

Gwen smiled at him as she cleared the cards into a pile. Pushing them to one side, she rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes. Jack watched as her dark hair fell over her eyes, and her body fell up and down as she breathed heavily.


	6. Chapter 6

"You know it's rude to stare?" came Gwen's muffled voice.

Jack laughed, "Go on, go have a rest on the sofa. I'll call you if I see anything"

Gwen mouthed a 'thank you' at him as she left the room, leaving Jack alone. As he sat quietly, his head rested on his hands, he felt his eyes closing, like he was being sucked into darkness. After a few minutes, his head hit the table and he was fast asleep.

"Jack? Jack, wake up, it's me"

He was being called by someone, and it was someone he knew well. He brought his hands up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. When he opened them again, he could see two figures sat in front of him. Blurred, but there were definitely two. Gwen and…

"Ianto?"

Ianto grinned and waved. Immediately, the smell hit Jack. Almost as if he had read Jack's mind, Ianto slid a glass of coffee towards Jack, who took it and gratefully took a sip.

"Aaah. That's better. Well, onto more important matters, Ianto. Explain."

"Well, after you'd all gone and we were left in the gym, I sort of…woke up. It was just like you explained it Jack. Like being hauled over broken glass. Hmmmm…" Ianto seemed to trail off for a moment, like he was remembering exactly what Jack had said and when.

"Anyway," he continued, "I decided that I had to try and find you, in hope that you'd tell me what was going on, only I was kidnapped. Well, whatever the adult version of kidnapping is."

Jack laughed quietly to himself. He may have been through a lot, but Ianto still hadn't lost his dry sense of humour.

"Who were they, Ianto? What did they do?"

Ianto was clearly uncomfortable now as he looked at his shoes and fidgeted in his seat.

"They said they were the government, they showed me their ID. They've been testing me, seeing how much pain I can withstand before it kills me. And the delight on their faces when I always wake back up again"

He was close to tears. Jack reached a hand across the table and placed it on top of Ianto's. As shocked as he was by what he was hearing, he felt a tiny pang of emotion. This meant that Ianto couldn't die either, which opened up a whole new window of opportunity for the both of them. Ianto reached into his inside pocket and pulled out his PDA. On the screen were the blueprints a small building. Jack took the device and studied it.

"These are the blueprints of the place where I'm being kept. The co-ordinates are on there as well, so you should be able to find me."

With that, Ianto stood up and straightened his jacket. He looked at his watch.

"Right, well, I'll be off in a mo, well, see you soon"

And he was gone. All that was left was a gold coloured mist that hung in the air for a moment before that too, vanished.

Both of them sat in silence for a few seconds. Jack drained his coffee and stood up.

"Right, lets get to work"


End file.
